New Zealand's stupid copyright law dies

New Zealand's stupid new copyright law that would cost you your Internet connection if you were accused of copyright infringement three times (without proof of any wrongdoing) is officially dead. Massive, global interest in the law, as well as a series of savvy Internet- and meatspace-protests convinced the government to climb down off the ledge that the American movie and music companies had lured it onto.

"Allowing section 92A to come into force in its current format would not be appropriate given the level of uncertainty around its operation," said Commerce Minister Simon Power in a statement. "These discussions have exposed some aspects of section 92A which require further consideration. While the government remains intent on tackling this problem, the legislation itself needs to be re-examined and reworked to address concerns held by stakeholders and the government..."

Users and ISPs were most concerned that the rules would apparently disconnect even huge businesses after a few employees downloaded illicit files. A high-profile judge raised concerns that the procedure could run afoul of contract law in New Zealand. ISPs weren't keen on disconnecting their own customers for the benefit of one set of industries, and they couldn't believe the law provided no indemnification from lawsuits; the ISP could be sued both by users and rightsholders if they didn't like the way it was handling the three strikes program. And users wanted some form of third-party or judicial arbitration before any Internet disconnection...

As for all those worries about false positives and the quality of evidence? RIANZ has never taken them too seriously, since (like the RIAA) it insists that its detection methodology is basically foolproof. In a recent interview posted on the RIANZ website, CEO Campbell Smith was asked if he would "eat his hat" if music industry copyright notifications turned out to contain numerous errors.

@Kieran ; it’s a bit of a moot point tbh, Eircom (the ISP in question) has an effective monopoly on internet service in Ireland. Being an Australian owned company with a horrifically poor service record they obviously see no incentive in fighting for our rights.

The other DSL ISPs are just acting as resellers. The saddest thing is that the DSL cost/speed ratio in the capital is the most extortinate in the developed world (and outside the capital is mostly unavailable). Anything over 3mb BB is almost unheard of in residential areas and the internet penetration is very low country-wide, so there has been very little public outcry over it…

To top it all off, we copy UK IT related legislature verbatim most of the time so any draconian measures imposed over there will be over here in a matter of time. Its a sad time to be alive.

This legislation will be withdrawn with great fanfare. While opponents are celebrating, it will be replaced quietly with something marginally less bad. Then, under cover of some (manufactured)crisis, additions will be made that will make the net effect even more extreme than the original legislation.

As sad as it is, Ireland (Republic of) still has this stupid rule and we’re getting very little coverage from the media regarding it – things are getting very very dangerous, only a short time before we start getting catch-all firewall filters.